A former accountant at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has admitted to engaging in improper trading while he was at the regulator and lying to conceal that trading, the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) announced on Tuesday.

David Humphrey, former accountant and branch chief in the SEC’s corporate finance division, pled guilty in federal court in Washington, D.C., to “making false statements in government filings in order to conceal his prohibited trading of options and other securities.” He will be sentenced in August.

At the same time, the SEC also settled its own allegations against Humphrey, who worked at the SEC from 1998 to 2014. The regulator says he engaged in improper personal trading in derivatives while at the SEC and hid his trading activity from the SEC’s ethics office and later misrepresented his trading when questioned during an investigation.

“Humphrey admitted that despite knowing the restrictions on SEC employees’ trading of options, he devised and executed an ‘options trading strategy’ under which he traded options over 100 times from his SEC computer at various times between 2001 and 2014,” states the DoJ’s release announcing its charges.

Humphrey agreed to settle the SEC’s charges, to pay US$51,917 in disgorgement, plus US$4,774 in interest, and a US$51,917 penalty. He also agreed to be permanently suspended from appearing and practicing before the SEC as an accountant. The settlement is subject to court approval.

“As alleged in our complaint, Humphrey never sought pre-clearance for his prohibited options trades and he filed forms that falsely represented his securities holdings,” says Gerald Hodgkins, associate director in the SEC’s enforcement division.